Both the employer and the employee side are watching with horror whether the AKP will succeed in crossing the so-called general line of wage increases agreed in the industry with its strong strike, writes political reporter Teemu Muhonen in his analysis.
Car- and the transport industry workers’ union AKT will start exceptionally heavy strikes on Wednesday, for example in Finnish ports. If the strikes drag on, they will significantly cripple Finland’s foreign trade.
As expected, the employer side scolded AKT on Tuesday evening for irresponsibility and lack of sense of proportionality in many different expressions.
Read more: AKP rejected the settlement proposals, a major strike in ports and in the transport sector starts on Wednesday
However, in addition to employers, other trade unions are also afraid of AKT’s tough game. It stems from a statement by the chairman Ismo Kokko gave at the national mediator’s office when telling about the rejection of the settlement proposals.
bonfire namely said directly that the so-called general line of the wage cycle agreed in the technology industry is not enough for ACP. In the technology industry, salaries will be raised by a total of about six percent in two years, and in addition, employees will receive a one-percent lump sum.
As usual from the previous rounds of negotiations, the solution of the so-called export main opener is being followed very closely in other sectors. Workers in other fields do not get much more, although usually not less. However, AKT intends to break the practice with its strong strikes.
“In the employer’s opinion, the head opener determines the level for both texts and salary increases. This is a casting defect in the system that should be able to be fixed,” Kokko said.
So for the employer side as well as for the workers’ union that performed the head opening, for the Teollisuusliito, the repair of the casting defect described by Koko would be poison.
The employer side would like to establish a system in Finland in which one of the important export sectors opens a round of negotiations and no other sector exceeds the wage increases agreed upon.
It is already clear that employees of municipalities and welfare regions automatically receive more than others. If, in addition, the ACP exceeds the industry’s solutions, in the technology industry the ceiling of the labor market cycle has not been agreed upon, but rather the floor.
This situation is also feared by the chairman of Teollisuusliitto Riku Aalto. Back in January, he spoke side by side with Koko about the joint goals of the SAK unions to raise wages. Now Aalto can only wait to see if he will soon have to explain to his members why the overcrowders got higher raises than them.
Others trade unions are also worried about the public image of the trade union movement during the elections.
Despite the rise in prices, many unions, in the wake of Teollisuusliitto, have settled for relatively moderate wage increases with relatively few strikes. However, part of the general public may associate AKT’s activities with the activities of the entire trade union movement.
AKT has a reputation as a strike-sensitive operator of the labor market, and the strike starting on Wednesday will certainly not dispel this reputation. In reality, ACP’s strike threats have come true relatively rarely. The last time the stevedores were on strike was in 2010.
This time, the realization of the strikes is not very surprising in the end. There is no way Kokko could achieve the union’s goal of crossing the general line without massive strikes.
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